I went to bestbuy yesterday to try out some of the cameras ... And I liked the olympus d-545 the pictures were clear and it was simple to use, the macro and super macro settings were awesome. I tried the Nikon 4600, and the camera was also simple but the macro settings werent as good as the olympus d-545. I wanted to try the canon a-510 but it wasnt working so I tried the a520 which is bascially the same thing and it was kind of confusing but the pics I took with it were pretty clear. I'm going to circuit city today to try out more.

olympus D595 $174.00 free shipping/no tax.
XD cards are more expensive and only work with olympus and
fugi. Add a card reader to your budget as it makes tranfers to your pc easier,faster and no drain of camera battery. A minimum of 128mb or larger would give you greater capacity
between transfers.
You might like to try Picasa 2 for basic post processing and
viewing. Good luck on your selection.

So far I'm liking the Canon A510...I Think I'm going to go with that and if I have any problems at all with it, I'll trade it in for the olympus d-595. None of the stores around me have the d-595camera to test, just the d-545, and I liked that one and they seem similar so ...

Toshiba 512mb sd card $29.95 after rebate. These are good
and reliable standard cards. That equates to over 300 shots
on large super fine resolution on the A510. The camera also has a 3:2 aspect ratio for 4x6 prints.